February 12, 2021

                                                                  Happy Birthday Abe !

February 12, 2020

Happy BD Father Abraham!



The current New Yorker has an interesting profile of Yuval Noah Harari.



Worlds Beyond Earth is the new Space show at AMNH.

February 12, 2019

Happy Birthday, Father Abraham.



Going to the Morgan library to see the Tolkien exhibit.

February 12. 2018

Happy Birthday, Abe!



Although I am an NYC resident, I've never been to the Guggenheim. That changes today. Looks like a decent in-house restaurant too: The Wright.



Guggenheim was okay, can't say I enjoyed the special exhibit: Take My Breath Away, Artist Danh Vo. The Wright was pretty good.



Some art I did like.

February 12, 2017

Happy Birthday Father Abraham!



Went to Gramercy Farmer and Fish. Crowded, cramped but the service was friendly and attentive. The food was fresh and tasty. The portions were smaller than most other places (one shrimp in Tuna main dish and three oysters in the oyster pan roast.) I will take quality over quantity any time. The Octopus appetizer was great as was the S'mores. Both dishes becoming staples in NYC restaurants.



Going to the¡Cuba! exhibit at AMNH. Looking forward to the Mummies exhibit in March.



Chateau La Tour L'aspic Pauillac Red Bordeaux 2009. When the going gets tough, the tough reach for a good Bordeaux.

February 12, 2016

Happy Birthday Abe !



Gothamist(SF) had a piece on Kim Novak. She paints well.



Uptown Funk Movie mash-up, sent around after Bruno Mars' Super Bowl appearance. Better than That's Entertainment.



New clips.



Matthias Buchinger: "The Greatest German Living": By Matthias Buchinger Whose Peregrinations in Search of the "Little Man of Nuremberg" are Herein Revealed by Ricky Jay and Matthias Buchinger

Of course I bought the book. Mostly because it is not available until February 23rd. The exhibit was cool, magnifying glasses were available for use.



The Repast of the Lion, Artist: Henri Rousseau.



The Boulevard Montmartre on a Winter Morning by Camille Pissarro.



From a fountain.

February 12, 2015

Happy Birthday Abe !



JP Morgan Museum and Library had a special Lincoln exhibit. Some other interesting art.



Masks and busts done at the time. Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, George Washington.



Wild doors at Zuma on Madison Avenue.



Went to the oyster bar for lunch, they have a great beer assortment. Today was Thomas Hooker Chocolate Truffle Stout.

Thomas Hooker was a prominent Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts.

February 11, 2015

Don't know why my NYS refund is being held up but just received a new message: We received your return and it's in the final stage of processing. While most returns are completed within 2 weeks, it may take up to 4 weeks. This is frustrating, the return had no curve balls and I received the Fed refund in eight days.

Now the message is: "We are almost finished processing your return. Once your refund is approved, the issue date will be available." Sounds better than the last one.



Lincoln's Birthday tomorrow. Time to visit the JP Morgan Library and Museum for Lincoln Speaks: Words That Transformed a Nation. $18 to get in, ouch ! It is near Grand Central, so a lunch visit to the Oyster Bar is in order.

February 12, 2014

Happy Birthday Abe !



My friend wanted this CD. I bought it from Amazon, copied it to I-Tunes and will hand it over today. A win-win situation. Unusual album. A tribute to Al Jolson. The liner notes to the original album were written by Jackie Wilson (the only liner notes ever written by him), a excerpt:

"In no way is this album an attempt to imitate Jolson’s style, nor is it an attempt to duplicate his incomparable way with a song. This is simply my humble tribute to the one man I admire most in this business. With the sincere hope that my contribution will in some way help keep the heritage of Al Jolson alive through the great songs he left behind."

February 12, 2013

From 1865, the years of strain show.

June 16, 2012

Spring onions in the sun.



What's all the Rhubarb about ?



Abe from the side.



New sculpture at Union Square is by Malcolm D. MacDougall III: Microscopic Landscape.

February 12, 2012

Happy Birthday Abe !



Went to a Dive Bar to watch the Knicks. I was pleasantly surprised by Four flat screen TVs and $3 PBRs. A Knick win in the last minute sealed the night.



The Knicks win but Rubio looks like the real deal. He is super fast and not soft at all. Great court vision. Lin came down to earth but played with grit.



"The Pope was a thug, but he was a learned thug" from The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.



My oldest son has to read Frankenstein and I only read the Classics Illustrated Comic Book. Now, I'll try the original. Also picked up Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners. Inspired by the NYT Magazine article : My Debt to Ireland.

February 12, 2011

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.
Abraham Lincoln


Marcus Yam for The New York Times

Wrote about Mexican Singers on the NYC Subway in December. They are now the subject of a NYT Article.



This book was excellent. I enjoyed the many maxims of war throughout:
Kadavergehorsam - corpse like obedience, blind obedience;

Marshal Foch
Mon centre cède, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque.
My centre is giving way, my right is retreating, situation excellent, I am attacking;

Napoleon
On S'engage; Et Puis, On Voit
(you engage and then you see)
One attacks, then waits to see what happens;

schwerpunkt
MEANING: noun: The point of focus; an area of concentrated effort, especially in a military operation.

ETYMOLOGY: From German Schwerpunkt (center of gravity, focal point), from schwer (weighty) + Punkt (point).



Another phrase from the book: l'esprit de l'escalier
(idiomatic) The experience of thinking of a devastating rejoinder only after leaving the scene of the debate. AKA: Staircase wit.



Noel Coward was a friend and correspondent.
Noel Coward, who told the actor Peter O'Toole (who played Lawrence in the film Lawrence of Arabia) that "If you'd been any prettier, it would have been Florence of Arabia."

At the time Lawrence was going under the name "Shaw", and signing himself, for example in the guest book at Philip Sassoon's Port Lympne estate, as "338171 A/C Shaw", Noel Coward in a letter to him asked "May I call you 338?"



Picked this one up at the Queens Library, part of my continuing exploration of popular culture. I enjoyed other Singer/Entertainer biographies of Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Bob Dylan. They all tapped into the Zeitgeist. Sinatra did too.